Mistakes and Broken Promises
by KatrinaCrystal
Summary: Yes, this is yet ANOTHER time travel type story. Naruto and Sasuke go back in time to fix all their mistakes. I'll try to deviate from the usual no massacre, Haku &Zabuza become Leaf nin even though their missing nin kind of things. C'mon give it a shot!
1. Chapter 1

**KatrinaCrystal:** Okay, I've read lots and lots of time travel fan fictions, some brilliant, and others suckish. But even the best of them had little things that just ruined them for me. For example, one of the best of the bunch, _It's For A Good Cause, I Swear_, was ruined for me in that the Fourth Hokage was alive and the Third was dead. Well, not _ruined_, but it just irritated me throughout the whole thing, ya know? Some of them, well… Naruto would learn jutsus that should have been impossible for him to learn, considering his chakra nature is wind. So I decided that the only way I was gonna get to read a time travel fic that doesn't irritate me was to write my own. So here I am. Enjoy!

RandomTitleForAFanficWhoopee!

"Naruto, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Sasuke, it's our only chance. There's no other way."

Sasuke didn't reply, choosing instead to stare at the floor. His raven-black hair was, as always, hanging loosely around his ears, forming a dark frame that stood out against the stark white of his face. His deep, onyx eyes had a haunted look to them.

A yellow haired boy of seventeen sat opposite him. Although concern for Sasuke was all that showed on his face, it was Naruto's eyes that gave him away. Those cerulean eyes were lacking the distinctive good-natured sparkle that had become his trademark. In its place was the same haunted look that Sasuke wore. His eyes now spoke of sorrow, loss, and a despair so great that it was a wonder he hadn't broken yet, hadn't fallen down, hadn't lost his mind from the sheer _pain_ of it all.

Naruto studied his friend's face intently, trying to discern what could be causing his features to twist in such a way.

"Sasuke?" he asked. "Are you all right? I thought you'd be super excited when I told you I found this jutsu… What's going on?"

Sasuke's knuckles turned white as he clenched his hand into a fist. "I don't know. It's just… Everything's gone. Konoha… Our friends… We're the only ones left. Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama, Kakashi-sensei… all gone. And Sakura…" the teenager trailed off, his eyes switching from hard to soft and back again all within an instant.

Those words shattered the mental barrier Naruto had constructed in an effort to block out the things he didn't want to remember… The things he wished he could forget.

All those memories… All those terrible, awful, painful memories came rushing back to him in a jumbled cacophony of words and images. Naruto tried, desperately tried, to ward them off, to seal them back behind that barrier, but he couldn't.

_They're all gone._ He thought. _All of them. Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, Shino, Kiba, Hinata-chan, Lee, Tenten, Neji… And Iruka-sensei… And Kakashi-sensei… And Tsunade-baachan… And… And Ero-Sennin…And Sakura-chan…Everybody…_

In contrast to his thoughts a second before, Naruto began shaking with fury. He gripped his arms tightly, his nails digging deep into the skin. Blood began to drip from in between his fingers. He didn't notice.

It had all started with _him_. Orochimaru. It may have been others who caused the deaths of everybody precious to him, but it had all started with Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had killed the Third Hokage. Orochimaru had given Sasuke the curse mark that led to him abandoning the village in his quest for power. It was Orochimaru.

But then, hadn't it been Itachi who had slaughtered everyone in the Uchiha clan, leaving only Sasuke alive? Hadn't it been Itachi who drove Sasuke to desire such power, in his quest for revenge?

No, Naruto realized. Sasuke had killed Itachi in the end. If it hadn't been for Madara, Sasuke would've just returned to the Hidden Leaf after getting his revenge.

So it was Madara. Yes, in the end, it all boiled down to Madara. Uchiha Madara. The man who may or may not have summoned the Kyuubi to annihilate the Hidden Leaf all those years ago. The man who had told Sasuke the truth of the Uchiha Massacre. The man who had tricked Sasuke into betraying his village, and everyone he had ever cared for. The man who had led each and every one of the subsequent eleven attacks on the Leaf. The man who had destroyed their home. The man who was responsible for Sakura-chan's death.

"Sasuke," Naruto said finally. "I can't see why you're getting so worked up about this. Either it works and we can go back and fix everything, or it doesn't and-"

"And you die!" Sasuke interjected roughly. "Did you even _read _the damn scroll? This jutsu uses up a lot of chakra! No one has ever used it and survived!"

"…Your point being?" Naruto looked confused.

Sasuke let out an enraged howl, and attempted to prematurely baldify himself by grasping as much hair as he could and yanking with all his might. "Naruto, how can you not realize what this means? Yeah, if it works you could go back and prevent all this shit from happening, but if it doesn't… If it doesn't, you'll die! You'll _die_! You'll die and I'll be here alone. Oh, but that doesn't matter to you, does it? _You'll _be in peaceful oblivion while _I'm_ stuck here by myself to deal with your body! Don't you even care? If this doesn't work… If this doesn't work I'll be _alone_!"

Sasuke's angry tirade ended with a soft choking sound. With a start, Naruto realized it was a sob; Sasuke, mask-of-indifference _Sasuke _was _crying_!

Naruto's thoughts were racing out of control. _WTF? He's crying! What do I do? Don't panic, don't panic… What do -_did_- What _did _you do when Sakura would cry? …Rub her back and hold her hand, but… This is _Sasuke_! He'd murder me! He's a _guy_! _I'm _a guy! Guys don't do that kind of thing! C'mon, think, Naruto, think! Umm, what to say, what to say…_

Naruto, being Naruto, was panicking, and so Naruto, being Naruto, said the first thing that popped into his head.

"Well, ah- I guess you're coming with me then."

Sasuke stopped bawling abruptly. "W-what?"

"You heard me. You're coming along for the ride." Naruto smirked.

Sasuke stared at him, trying to decide if the moron was being serious. It looked like he was. "But Naruto, this is a one-person jutsu! You can't just _take someone with you_! That's not how it works! You- You can't-"

"Who says I can't? Just because nobody's ever done it before doesn't mean it's possible. And besides, this is a forbidden jutsu, so it's not like people sit around all day experimenting with it." Naruto reasoned.

"Okay, but-" Sasuke started.

"Oh, and Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke looked directly at his friend, and groaned. Naruto was grinning maniacally, which was always a bad sign.

"What is it?" he asked, sighing heavily.

"You're going to be supplying me with as much chakra as you can manage, and then some." Naruto said cheerfully.

"What?" Sasuke exclaimed, outraged. "Why should I?"

"Tch, tch, Sasuke." Naruto tutted. "_Some_body's getting all worked up. You're not thinking clearly. This technique _does_ take up a lot of chakra, as you said. Now, while I have _massive_ chakra reserves, it won't be enough to teleport two people backwards in time. If I have to supply all my chakra myself, I'll die, the jutsu won't activate, and you'll be stuck here all by yourself _alone_, which would defeat the purpose of you coming along in the first place."

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort, and then closed it, seemingly dumbfounded. He obviously hadn't expected Naruto to make such a good argument. He sat motionless for a while longer, determined to find some fault with Naruto's idea. After a few moments, he did.

"Ah, but, Naruto… If I help you by supplying my own chakra and the jutsu still doesn't work, won't we _both_ die?"

Naruto's facial expression twisted still further as his strange smile widened, giving his features an eerie look. "Yup. That's kinda the point. This way, if it works, we both go back and fix everything… And if it doesn't, we don't have to live the rest of our lives knowing that we failed everybody. This way, at least if we die, we die knowing that we did everything we could to make it right."

Naruto watched the play of emotions flit across the dark-haired youth's face, amused.

"Naruto." Sasuke finally said. "You're a bloody genius."

The blonde smiled. "I know I am. Well, let's get this over with."

Sasuke blinked. "Right now? Don't you want to wait and-"

"What's there left to wait for? Everybody's dead, the village has been destroyed, and we're just sitting here in the Old Man's head waiting for the Akatsuki to come and kick our asses. No time like the present, I say."

"It's pretty hard to deal with that logic, I guess…" Sasuke admitted. "Okay, let's do this!"

Naruto's face hardened. "Yoshi! Let the ultimate suicide mission commence!"

Sasuke laughed grimly. "Yeah, dobe, let's get it over with."

Naruto took a scroll out of his pack, and opened it. He scanned it quickly, and then set it aside. He saw Sasuke looking at him, eyes questioning. "I was just double checking that I had the seals right."

Sasuke inclined his head, and Naruto got down to business.

The young shinobi got to his feet, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, readying himself. His hands trembled slightly, but he gave no other indication of his state of mind.

Then his eyes snapped open, and his fingers ceased their quivering. All of the nervousness, all of the fear… It melted away, to be replaced by solid determination. This was Naruto at his most serious. There was no hint of the boy he had once been. His eyes were hardened with resolve, and his mouth was set into a straight line. He was ready.

Naruto moved his hands through a set of foreign seals, a set he had practiced but once before. …And yet his fingers moved fluidly from one hand sign to the next with a speed and dexterity that rivaled that of a Sharingan user.

Indeed, out of the corner of his eye he noticed Sasuke staring blatantly, open-mouthed and incredulous, shocked at the speed of his sign-forming. The corners of Naruto's mouth twitched at the irony of the situation; There was a time when Naruto would have given six days worth of ramen to get a reaction like that out of his friend. But those days were gone, and the situation was different now. He had no time for such thoughts.

Refocusing his mind on the task ahead, he increased the speed at which his hands flew through the motions, at the same time taking extra care to get each sign exactly right; If he was to make a mistake now, it would prove disastrous. There was no room for error. The term _deadly _precision came to mind… And so, with astounding speed and infallible accuracy, Naruto sped through the remaining signs.

When he finally finished the last one, and had pushed every last bit of his chakra, as well as a considerable amount of the Nine-Tails chakra, into the technique, he let his hands drop to his sides, exhausted.

He glanced over at Sasuke, and found him slumped over on the floor, barely conscious.

Sasuke sat up slowly. "Did… did it work?"

"I dunno. I expected a great big flash of light or something. An explosion maybe. A loud noise… I dunno, but I expected _something_!" Naruto grumbled.

"Maybe the jutsu didn't work." Sasuke said. "Maybe we didn't pump enough chakra into it…"

"That can't be it." Naruto dismissed the idea immediately.

"Why not?" Sasuke asked irritably.

"Because I used up all of my chakra _and_ just about all of the Kyuubi's chakra too. I _swear _I almost went four-tails on you!" Naruto shuddered and continued. "And _you _look half-dead yourself."

"Fair enough." Sasuke grunted.

Naruto's legs buckled underneath him and he fell to his knees. Through lidded eyes, he saw Sasuke staring at him with a peculiar expression on his face. His friends mouth moved, but no sound came out. How odd… Sasuke stumbled towards him, and managed to get within a few feet of him before falling down abruptly in a spasm of pain. His body, weak from chakra depletion, twitched a few times before going unnaturally still.

Was he dead? Were they both dying? Naruto wondered. But such thoughts were abandoned when he detected the gentle rise-and-fall of Sasuke's chest; his friend was _breathing_.

_He's alive…_ Naruto breathed an internal sigh of relief. _So… If we're not dying, then why hasn't anything happened?_

As if on cue, memories of the past drifted to the front of his mind once more, and they flashed before his eyes - literally. His whole life flashed before his eyes. He would have laughed, but his lungs were constricted, making it nearly impossible to breathe. So instead he settled for watching his whole life go by in reverse.

Naruto lay on the floor for a long time, as all seventeen years of his life were displayed in his mind's eye like some great television screen. He saw the moments of his greatest triumph, and his greatest failures. When lined up side by side, he couldn't help but feel that he'd failed more often than not… He'd failed in getting Sasuke back. He'd failed in not being there for Ero-Sennin. He'd failed in letting Tsunade-baachan die. He'd failed in helping Kakashi-sensei. He'd failed in saving Sakura-chan. He'd failed in keeping the Akatsuki away from the village. He'd failed in defending the Hidden Leaf. He'd failed in protecting his precious people. He'd failed so many times…

But another part of him protested that he had done some pretty cool things in his time. It was the part of him that often spoke in Hinata-chan's voice.

After what seemed like years, but could have really only been a matter of seconds, the slideshow ended, and Naruto regained control over his mind.

_Was that the jutsu?_ he wondered.

And then the world went black.

**KatrinaCrystal:** Heh, sorry about the ending… I couldn't think how else to do it… And I know Sasuke was a little - well, okay, a _lot_ OOC with the crying and all, but you've gotta remember, everyone and everything he's ever cared about is gone, and he believes that it's his fault. Which, mostly, it is, but that's not the point. The only person he's got left in the whole wide Narutoverse is Naruto, and there was a strong possibility that Naruto was gonna end up dead, so… He was a little bit freaked. Cut him -and me- some slack, okay? Now, tell me what you thought please! I'd really like to know. And _yes_ I am one of those people who goes _nuts _for long reviews, so don't hold back. And I know this chapter wasn't the best, but it had to be there to set things up for chapters to come. Please please please _please_ review!


	2. Chapter 2

**KatrinaCrystal:** He-e-ey, I'm ba-ack! *Does A Little Dance* You guys miss me? I updated quickly cuz one of you reviewed very nicely. A lot of you put me on story alert or favorite story or favorite author or author alert, but I only got one review. X( Please review, guys. So, in this chapter, Naruto and Sasuke arrive back in the past. Whoopideedoodah! Well, I hope you guys like it. Read on!

Naruto opened his eyes to the pale white walls of a hospital room.

_What the fuck, how did I get _here_?_

He glanced down and saw that there were tubes inside his nose as well as wires attached to his arms and chest. He was wearing one of those pale blue hospital nightgowns, the kind that left your butt visible for all the world to glanced down and saw that there were tubes inside his nose as well as wires attached to his arms and chest. He was wearing one of those pale blue hospital nightgowns, the kind that left your butt visible for all the world to see.

Where was Sasuke? In the bed next to him? He turned his head to check, but the bed was empty.

Naruto snorted. _Of _course_ he's not there. Wouldn't none of them _dare_ put their precious "last Uchiha" in the same _ward_ as the Kyuubi brat, let alone the same room! …Kusso*!_

Naruto ripped the various tubes and wires off in one quick motion and sat up.

_So, what now? Should I go find Sasuke now, or just sit back and wait till I'm released?…Stupid, stupid, stupid! Who's gonna come get me anyways? There's nobody _left_!_

Naruto frowned. Such thoughts made him want to punch himself in the face, if not whip out a kunai and perform seppuku*…But no. He was being too hard on himself. He _had_ just woken up. It was marginally easier to forget such things in the morning. Some days he got up and wandered in a daze to Team Seven's old training grounds, where he would wait for a few hours, fully expecting Kakashi-sensei to pop with his trademark "Yo." and lame excuse… On such days, Sasuke would always walk up behind him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, jerking him out of the past and into the harsh reality of the present.

Naruto shook his head. Brooding over such things was pointless. The past was the past and there was no changing it.

He hopped off the bed and stood up quickly. Too quickly. The room spun around him, and he came crashing down to the floor.

_What the _fuck _was that about?_

Naruto waited for his head to quit throbbing so horribly, and then got to his feet. He staggered to the door and put his arm out to grasp the doorknob. His hand met nothing but empty air. The blond sighed in exasperation and hung his head. He found himself staring at his feet.

A little voice inside his head whispered that there was something strange about the situation. He dismissed the thought. He had to find that doorknob.

Naruto looked over to left. It wasn't there. He looked down. It wasn't there. He looked up. What the fuck was it doing up so high? He stretched his arm up as high as he could. It wasn't far enough. The blond stood on tiptoe, still reaching.

_Got it!_

Naruto opened the door to see the Sandaime.

**-Major WTF moment. Can't you just picture his face? !0.o!-**

_Well now. I know I've had my moments, but this is just _bizarre_… Why's _he _here? Oh, right, the jutsu… The jutsu!_

It all came flooding back to him. The jutsu, the Sasuke, the crying… He remembered! And he didn't _think_ he was dead. At least, he didn't _feel_ dead… But then again, the Sandaime was standing right in front of him, so… Maybe he was? But then, if he was, where was everybody else? His other precious people…? And Sasuke, where was he? If he was dead, then Sasuke should be here too. But he wasn't. So…did that mean he was alive? He thought it did. And, if he was alive… that meant the jutsu had worked! He was in the past! And Sandaime-ojiji was alive and… picking him up?

Wait, why the _fuck _was Sandaime-ojiji so _tall_?

For the first time, Naruto checked himself over. He felt the top of his head and discovered that his hair was very short and _very_ frizzy. His hand traveled down to his left ear. The curved scratch from the demon cat Tora was missing, presumably healed, a feat not even Kyuubi had managed. Naruto brought that same hand in front of his eyes. It was… small. But, more notably, it was soft, lacking the calluses formed from long afternoons of training, and so many years handling kunai. The diamond-shaped scar on his palm, the reminder of that fateful promise he made back in the Land of the Waves, was gone as well. He peeked down the neck of the unflattering hospital nightgown, and swallowed hard. The scar from the time Sasuke's Chidori had gone through his chest still remained.

_Looks like some wounds never heal…_ he thought bitterly. _Wonder if Sasuke's still got that mark from my Rasengan…_

His musings were cut short as he realized just how very _short_ he was at the moment. Naruto screamed.

_What the fuck I'm __**chibi**__! Why the fuck am I __**chibi**__? What the fuck is going on? WHY THE FUCK AM I __**CHIBI**__?_

Naruto was hyperventilating in between screams.

"Naruto? Naruto! Naruto, calm down! It's okay, it's okay! I-I won't touch you, all right? I'll-I'll-I'll-I'll just leave, okay?" Sarutobi stammered, putting him on the floor. His eyes were wide with concern and poorly concealed pain.

Naruto immediately stopped screaming. "No! Don' weave me, _pwease_! I don' wan' you t'go!"

He stumbled over to the Sandaime, tripping over his own feet as he tried to take steps that were better suited to his seventeen-year-old body. He flung his little arms around the old man and attempted to crush his ribcage, sobbing desperately.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered why he was crying like this. He'd come to terms with the old man's death a long time ago… Maybe it was just that he was a little kid again and had a limited range of control over his emotions. Hmm. Just how old _was_ he?

"Hey, ol' man?"

"Hmm…? Yes, Naruto-kun, what is it?"

Naruto scrunched his face up, and asked, "What day's it?"

The Sandaime's face grew somber. "You've been out for a week or so, Naruto-kun."

"M'kay, but what _day_'s it?"

"It's a month after your birthday, Naruto-kun."

"Oh. How old'm I 'gain?" he asked cautiously.

The Sandaime chuckled. "You're three now, Naruto-kun."

"Free?" Naruto asked, eyebrows narrowing in what, luckily for him, _appeared _to be concentration.

"Yes, three."

Naruto let loose a harsh stream of expletives. A few minutes later, he finished, out of breath.

For a moment, the Sandaime looked mildly impressed, but it didn't last long, and Naruto gulped as he watched the old man slide back into what he had lovingly dubbed "Hokage-mode".

"Well now, my little Naru-kun. Would you mind telling me _where_ exactly you learned such language?"

Naruto froze, and he rubbed the back of his head, laughing sheepishly. _Crap, crap, what to say…_ A wide grin threatened to spread across his face, but he stopped it just in time.

"It was Okari-san! She said doze words one time when a big cwate falled on 'er foot!"

_Serves her right for "accidentally" running me over with that cart!_ The fact that it hadn't actually _happened_ yet in this timeline was irrelevant. Revenge was sweet! …Noooo! He was sounding like Sasuke-teme*!

Sandaime frowned. "I'll be speaking to her about that. Such language isn't appropriate for children. If I _ever_ catch you saying those words again, you won't have any ramen for an entire month, you, understand me?"

Naruto nodded vigorously. He waited a few moments and then asked, "Hey, ahh, ojiisan, what happened to me?"

"Hmmm? You don't remember?" the old man sighed. "I was hoping you could tell me… You just passed out some distance away from Ichiraku ramen… Are you _quite_ sure you don't remember anything?"

"Erm, jus' member eatin' a buncha ram'n and stuff an' I gotted up t'leave an' I wuz awl fwoaty'n'twisty'n'stuff… an' dats all…I fink."

"Well, Naruto-kun, it sounds like you might've been poisoned."

"Poisend?"

"Yes. I think I'll just have to go and have a little chat with the owner now, so if you'll excuse me-"

"No!" Naruto screeched. "Ol' man Teuchi's nice! He would never trya kill me! Don' yell at 'im, _pwease_! 'im an' Ayame-neechan're my fwiends!"

"…" The Sandaime stood there in shocked silence.

"'Sides, I probly jus' eated too much ram'n."

"…Just how much did you eat?"

Naruto frowned slightly. "'M not sure. I was jus' tryin' a beat da' one guy's record. Ol' man Teuchi said 'e was a Aki-Aki-Akimi-"

"An Akimichi?" the Sandaime said helpfully.

"Yea, da' was it! 'E was a A-ki-mi-chi! Ennyway, da' Akimichi guy's record was _dis many _bowls!" Naruto held up both hands, fingers spread wide, closed them into fists, opened them, closed them, and opened them again, ending the pattern with three fingers out.

"So… the Akimichi you were trying to beat ate… twenty-three bowls?" Sarutobi sounded bemused.

"Uh-huh! An' I couldn't keep count of da amoun' of bowls I eated, so ol' man Teuchi jus' kep' on givin' me more bowls till I beat 'is record!"

"Wait a minute, you actually _beat_ his record?"

Naruto nodded vigorously. "Yup. Sure did! My tummy hurted a lot afterwards doh. Ol' man Teuchi fought I was gunna barf! But I dinnint. An' das all. C'n I go home now? I feews all better!"

"Ahh, um…okay, Naruto-kun! Come with me, I'll bring you to your caretaker's house."

"No! I don' wanna go _there_!" Naruto tried to sound as scared as possible. It didn't take much effort; What he remembered of his days with his caretakers wasn't very pleasant.

It would be easier to contact Sasuke if he could move around the village freely. Plus, those caretakers really scared the shit out of him… The last one was a tad smarter than the rest, and realized that no matter how brutally he was beaten, the wounds would be healed within a couple of days, and came up with a different method. She'd tried poison… which, incidentally, was the one thing Kyuubi's chakra couldn't neutralize. He'd been horribly sick for days before he wound up in the hospital.

Naruto decided to try to make the conversation go the way it had when he was seven, with a few minor alterations.

"Ojiisan, the caretakers are _bad_. They hurt me. I don' wanna stay wiv dem ennymore. I wanna stay by myself inna 'partmen'. Da abnu guys c'n check on me evy day to make sure 'm still 'live. You c'n give me a 'lowance to spen' to buy food'n'water'n'pay rent'n'stuff. C'mon, ojiisan, _pwease_?" he turned on puppy-dog-eyes full blast.

The Sandaime looked thoughtful. "You mean anbu?"

"Yeah, abnu, da's it! So c'n I?"

"No, you're too young. Maybe in a few more years, when you can take better care of yourself."

"D'abnu c'n check evy cuppo of hours'n'even follow me round if you want, I jus wanna wiv by myself! Pwease? De caretakers are scary…"

The Sandaime sighed, and pulled Naruto close to him. "I know. I'm sorry, but I just can't let you. We'll find a new caretaker. This one will be better, I promise."

The newly-chibified blond snorted contemptuously, allowing a lifetime of bitterness to fill his three-year-old voice. "No, they won't. You say that every time, and every time you're wrong. I always end up hurt. They all hate me, ojiisan. You know it, and I know it. I've tried sounding like a little kid, all cute and innocent, hoping that _maybe_ they'll like me if I sound like any other kid they're liable to meet, but it doesn't work. They hate me just the same. So instead of leaving me with a civilian who wants to kill me for something a dumb fox did, why don't you set things up so there's an anbu to watch me at all times. Generally, I've found that shinobi have a pretty good handle on their emotions, and anbu are the elite, so I should think they could manage to refrain from murdering me in my sleep… What d'you say?"

Sarutobi stared at him long and hard before nodding slowly. "Okay. You may have your own place, _but_… there must be _two_ anbu guards tailing you at all times during the day, and _three_ at night."

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Whatever you want Sandaime-ojiji. As long as I get my own place." Naruto detached himself from the old man and walked over to the door.

Just as he was about to leave, the Sandaime cleared his throat. Naruto turned around. "Yes?"

"…How did you know about Kyuubi?"

Naruto broke out in a cold sweat. _Crap, crap! What do I tell him? Not the truth, for sure. I can't do that without sounding twelve different kinds of crazy… Um… Ah…_

His face betrayed none of the frenzied panic he felt. The Sandaime continued to watch him, and he opened his mouth to say something, anything, when a perfectly good excuse popped into his head.

"Well… The civilians never really _broke_ your law, per se, but they've found other ways of making my life miserable. They ignore me, mostly. And when they _do_ look my way, they glare at me. There have been several "accidents" that I'm sure you're aware of, what with your crystal ball thingie-which, by the way, I find _extremely_ creepy. You can pretty much stalk people from your office and nobody's the wiser… Anyhow, after a while, I kinda started to wonder _why_ they hated me and only me. So a couple months ago, I started listening, and watching. And I noticed things. You'd be surprised what adults say when they think you're not listening… I had my suspicions, but I had no solid proof until my birthday. A bunch of civilians got drunk and cornered me in the alleyway. They took turns stabbing me with kunai, and in their drunken stupor, they let it slip. Before you ask, no, I have no idea who they were, and I have no wish to find out."

The Sandaime sighed. "Very well. I'll call an anbu to show you to your new apartment."

Naruto nodded. As they waited, he wondered how he would be able to meet up with Sasuke. The Uchiha clan would still be intact, and they wouldn't want him anywhere near Sasuke. They'd have to meet in secret…

Naruto stiffened as he felt a presence somewhere behind him. Then, upon recognizing the chakra signature, he had to hide a smirk. Without turning around, he said, "Hello, _anbu-san_."

_I'll just let Sandaime-ojiji wonder…_

"Hello Naruto-san. I've come to take you to your new living quarters."

Naruto turned around and found himself face-to-face with an anbu in a wolf mask. Silver hair sprouted from behind the mask, and the anbu was holding one hand up in a half-wave-the other was busy holding a bright orange book.

_Nice._

"'Kay, _anbu-san_, I'm coming." Naruto stood up and gave the Sandaime one last hug. "Bye, Sandaime-ojiji! Thanks for the new apartment!"

He ran over to the anbu and grabbed his hand. "C'mon, anbu-san, do the poofie jutsu!"

The Sandaime chuckled, and the anbu sighed. "It's called a _teleportation_ jutsu, _not _a _poofie_ justu. Now let's go!"

They disappeared with a small _poof_. Naruto could have sworn he heard Old Man Third mutter, "Poofie jutsu indeed…"

***Kusso***-Damn

***Seppuku***-Suicide Ninja Style; Literally, "Sheathe the Sword"

***Sasuke-teme***-I _know_ teme means "you bastard" and not just "bastard", but I don't care. Sasuke-bastard just sounds awesome!

**KatrinaCrystal:** Yeah, yeah, I know. Short chapter. I don't often write long chapters, so you might as well get used to it. The way I see it, it's better to have shorter chapters. Because with shorter chapters, you get more frequent updates. So really, would you rather have short chapters with semi-regular updates, or long ones where I don't update for years at a time? Think on it. Oh, and as for updates…I've got four little siblings and a single mother who runs a daycare and regularly watches five kids every day in addition to her own and it's summertime and I'm the oldest kid at home. You do the math. So, ah, anyway, review please! Long reviews are loved, flames will be used to set fire to my little sister's hair, and anyone who knows who the anbu is gets a Lee plushie! -Spandex not included; Eyebrows conveniently lost-

Ja ne!

KatrinaCrystal


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: Forgot to put this in the last chapter…Oops? Anwho, I most definitely do _not_ own Naruto, for which you should be grateful, else it should have turned out worse than you could ever believe.

**KatrinaCrystal**: I'm sorry. I have no excuses. But a few days ago I opened my e-mail for the first time in _months_, and found a buttload of story alerts and favorites…And I realized that I needed to get off my freaking butt and get to work. Thank you all so much.

"Really, Sasuke? Kakashi?" Naruto said disapprovingly.

"Hey, it's not my fault! He was the anbu Sandaime-sama was signaling!" Sasuke protested indignantly, dropping the henge.

Naruto immediately fell to the ground laughing.

"What, what is it? What's so funny?" Sasuke demanded shrilly.

"Y-Your voice! A-a-and your_ hair_!"

"Well, what about it?"

"It-it-it's-" Naruto choked on the words. He doubled over and fell the to the ground laughing and clutching at his sides.

"What's so damn funny?" Sasuke asked, irritated.

Naruto giggled again, and Sasuke grabbed him by the neck. Wheeling around, he slammed Naruto up against a tree.

"What's. So. Damn. Funny." Sasuke growled.

"Your hair looks even stupider when you're a kid! And your voice is _hella_ squeaky!"

"WHAT?"

Naruto fell to the ground with a soft _thunk_. He stood up slowly.

"Gaaaaaaahhh!"

Naruto whipped his head around, and instinctively moved into a battle stance.

"What's going on? Are we under attack?"

He cast his senses outward, but detected nothing. Confused, he turned back to his old teammate.

Sasuke was sitting in the dirt with his head in his too-small hands.

"Hey, teme, what's wrong?"

"Nothing really. It's just…"

"Just what? Itachi? Your clan? Your past? Sakura-chan? What?"

Sasuke sighed. "No, no, nothing like that. And thanks for reminding me of all that shit by the way. Really appreciate it."

"No problem. That's what friends are for. Now seriously, what's going on?"

Sasuke chuckled slightly. "No need to get so worried, dobe. I was just a little freaked and more than a little pissed off. I _just_ got my hair long enough that it doesn't stick out in the back like a duck's ass, and now I'm right back where I started."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "So you're not upset about the Itachi thing or any of the other disasters we've got to face again, you're just pissed that you have to re-grow your hair?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Only you, Sasuke-teme. Only you."

Naruto laughed softly. After a short pause, he asked, "So, where did you bring us, exactly?"

"You can't tell?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Take a closer look, dobe. You'll know."

The newly chibified ninja turned and examined his surroundings. They were standing in the center of a clearing. The area was roughly circular in shape, with grassy patches here and there. Trees lined the edges of the clearing, and among them grew plenty of ferns, bracken, and other such underbrush. And off to the side, about twenty feet away from them, were three stumps, all in a row.

Naruto's eyes widened, and he sprinted (read: stumbled) over to them. Just behind them, as he had known it would be, was a large, black stone.

He sank to his knees and stared at the cenotaph long and hard. It gleamed in the sunshine, deceptively beautiful. The stone had been created as a monument to those lost. KIA, they called them. Killed in action. For many, the stone was a reminder of those who had given their lives to protect the village. For Naruto, it was a reminder of his inadequacy. A reminder of those lives he had not been strong enough to save.

He pressed his hand to the stone and closed his eyes. In the early days of the war, when all was not yet lost, and there was still hope of victory, he had traveled to this spot many times. Often, he would meet Kakashi-sensei. They never spoke, merely acknowledging each other's presence with a slight nod. On those days that his sensei _wasn't _waiting with an orange book in hand, he pretended not to notice the faint chakra signature up in the trees off to his right. Never let it be said that Kakashi didn't look out for his students…

~_**FLASHBACK**_~

Naruto arrived at Training Grounds Seven fresh off the battlefield. He walked over and bent down in front of the stone. As he did so, he became painfully aware of the absence of that familiar, comforting chakra signature. He remained in front of the stone for several hours. At last he raised his head and pressed a hand to the stone. His hand tightened slowly into a fist. Trembling with anger, frustration, and helplessness, he slipped his other hand into his weapons pouch and drew a kunai. As he slowly carved his sensei's name into the cold, unforgiving stone, he became dimly aware of the fact that he was crying. Through the blurry haze of his tears-mixed-with-anger, he noted that he'd left a bloody handprint on the upper left-hand side of the stone, and that the kunai he held was still covered in blood and gore. Naruto smiled grimly. The stone was already tainted with the reminder of bloodshed; all he was doing was enabling everyone else to see what he saw each time he beheld the stone. He finished engraving his sensei's name into the stone and leaned back, looking critically at his handiwork. It had taken some maneuvering, but Kakashi's name was now set right underneath Sakumo's, diagonal to Obito's, and right next to Rin's. -Placing his name near that of the Yondaime Hokage had proved to be impossible; the names of the Hokage were traditionally placed in the top row. Kakashi-sensei's name was encrusted with blood and other such filth from the battlefield, but somehow, Naruto didn't think he'd mind. In fact, Naruto thought it was rather fitting. His sensei would be forever remembered as the Copy-Nin Kakashi, who had died sacrificing his life for his comrades. Yes, it was fitting…

~_**END FLASHBACK**_~

Naruto dragged his hand across the stone, sighing quietly. After a long moment, he opened his eyes and gave the stone a meditative pat. His arm fell limply to his side.

He turned around slowly, feeling melancholy, and found himself face-to-face with Sasuke. His best friend was gazing at him with a somber expression on his face, both arms outstretched.

"Come here."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Come here."

"Who are you and what have you done with Sasuke?" Naruto demanded.

"…" Sasuke stared at him blankly. "…Baka. I am Sasuke."

Naruto narrowed his eyebrows. "Oh yeah? Prove it."

"Fine." Sasuke smirked. "I will."

They shifted into a battle stance simultaneously. Naruto started to form a seal, but Sasuke held up his hand.

"Stop. No chakra. We don't want ANBU coming after us just yet. This will have to be a taijutsu only match."

Naruto frowned. "Fine."

And then, without so much as another word, they charged at one another. Sasuke wasted no time in sending him flying with a roundhouse kick to the face. Naruto retaliated by aiming a punch at his stomach, but Sasuke dodged it easily and came sliding back around to deliver a swift jab of his own. Before the hit could land, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm, swung him to the side, and elbowed him in the ribs. Sasuke twisted around and wrenched himself free. He darted around, ducking this way and that to avoid blows that seemed to come out of nowhere. Naruto dashed forward, and Sasuke leapt high in the air. His foot came crashing down on Naruto's face, knocking him flat on his back. Naruto staggered to his feet and wiped the blood from his nose. Sasuke charged, and Naruto, still slightly disoriented, was unable to dodge. He flew backwards a few feet and landed in a heap on the grass.

"Ready to give up yet?" Sasuke taunted.

"You…wish." Naruto gasped, breathing heavily. He pushed himself to his feet.

Sasuke charged again, but this time he was ready. He immediately took the defensive, dodging and blocking the blows he could and enduring the blows he could not.

After several minutes of this, Naruto noted with a smirk that Sasuke's breathing was heavier -labored- and came in a sharp bursts. His shirt was sticky with sweat. His movements were still fluid and precise, but there was less force behind his blows. His gaze was still sharp and calculating, but his eyes were glazed over. Sasuke was tired.

Naruto continued the ceaseless rhythm of their mock-battle, biding his time, waiting for the moment that Sasuke would-

There. Any other ninja would have missed it, but not him. He had spent too much time fighting Sasuke (in mock-battles like this one, and in the real life-and-death struggles of their early genin years) not to notice. Something had flickered across Sasuke's eyes. Naruto knew exactly what was happening, and he waited for it to pass before he took action. He would never exploit this, Sasuke's one weakness on the battlefield, not ever. There was too much emotion, too much tragedy involved. He couldn't do that to an _enemy_, let alone his best friend.

When the moment had passed and that awful pain-hurt-emptiness had faded from Sasuke's gaze, Naruto struck. He dashed forward and landed a solid blow smack dab in the middle of Sasuke's chest.

His teammate flew back and hit the ground hard. He lay there, gasping for breath, until Naruto walked over and pulled him to his feet.

They said nothing. Why should they? There was no need. By unspoken consent they walked back over to the stumps and sat down. There they remained, each lost in their own thoughts, for a very long time. The sun was high in the sky by the time either of them moved.

"We should go. Kakashi-sensei will be here any minute now." Sasuke said quietly.

"Yeah."

They both stood up. Sasuke began walking away. After a moment or two of indecision, Naruto followed. He could check up on Kakashi later.

CheddarCheeseIsVeryDelicious

It was nearly dusk by the time they finally stopped walking. Sasuke started to speak, but Naruto held up his hand. "Wait."

He cast out his senses. They were completely alone. Good. "Okay."

Sasuke took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. "What are we going to do?"

Naruto had been expecting the question, but the tone in which it had been asked-harsh, accusational, despairing- shocked him.

"I-What's wrong?" he asked, confused.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke laughed, a cold, unfriendly noise like that of the other Sasuke, the one who had deserted him and left him broken, shattered, in more ways than one, lying unconscious and bleeding in the rain at the Valley of End. Naruto shivered, and for the first time in his life, he felt a little afraid of Sasuke.

"What's wrong? _You're _what's wrong! I thought you knew what you were doing! I thought you'd thought things through! I thought you had a _plan_!"

"Sasuke, I-"

Sasuke raged on as though he had not spoken. "I thought the war had made you wiser, more mature, but apparently not because you're still the same idiot making reckless decisions with little concern for your own (or anyone else's) well-being! Risk? Consequences? Strategy? Do those words mean _anything_ to you? How on earth are we going to change anything if you don't factor in the risks, consider the consequences, and come up with a reasonable strategy?"

"Sasuke-"

"You complete _idiot_, Naruto! How could you drag me into this? You said-"

"SASUKE!" Naruto roared. "SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Sasuke snapped his mouth shut mid-rant

"Thank you. Now, first thing's first, I didn't _drag_ you into anything. You _wanted_ to come. So shut the hell up. And second, I never _said_ I had a plan. _Never_. Not once. And Sasuke? I don't recall you suggesting one either. Look, I told you there was a chance that we could fix things. A _chance_. We might not have even got here in the first place, which I made sure you knew. We used a The chances of dying were much higher than the chances of arriving here, in the past, and I made _sure _you knew that. You knew _exactly_ what you were getting yourself into."

Sasuke said nothing. Then, almost inaudibly, "I'm sorry."

"S'okay. I'm sorry too. We were both wrong…and both right, I guess. I should have thought to come up with a plan first, but it…we were…it was just…"

He couldn't find the right words. How could he describe the depth of the situation? What words could adequately convey the intensity of their desperation? How could he explain the strange, passionate fervor that had overcome him, blocking out all rational thought?

Yet, despite his inability to express it all, Sasuke was nodding. He understood. He had experienced it too.

Another long period of companionable silence threatened to ensue, but Naruto stopped it in it's tracks. They didn't have time for this. Sasuke was right. They needed a plan.

"So, what _should_ we do, then?" Naruto asked him.

Sasuke sighed. "I don't know."

"Well, neither do I. But that's what we're trying to decide, isn't it? So I'll ask again, _what should we do_?"

"Well what _can_ we do? There's not much we can do as we are right now. We're _puny_! Why are we so young anyway? I thought we'd just come back in our regular bodies."

"Yeah, well, _I_ kinda _did_ expect this."

"_What_? And you didn't _tell_ me?" Sasuke growled.

"Hey! Let me finish before you rip my head off, will you? I was _saying_ that I expected to be stuck in a younger body, but not _this_ young. I thought we'd go back to when it all began, you know, back in the chuunin exams."

"Any ideas why we didn't?"

Naruto frowned. "Well, I can't say for sure, but I think we might have overdone it a little bit."

"How do you mean?" Sasuke asked, confused.

"Well, the scroll didn't say, but I think I've figured out the way the jutsu works. See, the more chakra you put into the jutsu, the farther back you go. It's brilliant! See, there are people who thought the jutsu was a phony, that it didn't work. But it did. When they tried it, they didn't put very much chakra into it, and they only went back a few hours. And since they spent a few hours trying to figure it out and learn the hand seals, they never realized that it had actually worked! And then the ones who died trying to use it, I think they realized how the jutsu worked, but tried to put in more chakra than they had and they died before the jutsu could activate! It's brilliant. Bloody brilliant. (AN: **KatrinaCrystal**: Been reading Harry Potter again, can't you tell? Ahaha, I'm a freak)

"So with my chakra and your chakra and nearly all the Kyuubi's chakra…we kind of overdid it." Naruto explained.

"…" Sasuke stared at him incredulously. "All that fuss over not having enough chakra to activate the jutsu and it turns out we used too much? Seriously?"

There was a pause, and then they were both rolling on the ground laughing hysterically.

When they finally stopped laughing, they sat up.

"So…we still need a plan." Naruto said. "What are we going to do?"

"Yeah, well, what _can_ we do?" Sasuke asked.

"How do you mean?"

"Well, it's only the two of us, and we're about five years old at the moment!"

"We're three, actually." Naruto interjected.

"Whatever! Seriously, Naruto, is there _anything_ we can do? If we were older we might have a chance, but as we are now…We could always wait until we're older. Bide our time, train even harder than we did the first time around…We could wait, but…"

Sasuke sighed and tugged at his hair in frustration. Naruto understood. To wait would be agony. They needed to act _now_.

"We can't do anything by ourselves." Sasuke repeated despondently.

They sat, amid a wash of despair and hopelessness and agony, for a few minutes before Sasuke spoke again. "We can't do anything by ourselves."

"You've said that already." Naruto snapped, irritated.

"No, Naruto, _we can't do anything by ourselves_!" Sasuke said excitedly.

"Yeah, I got that the first time. What's your point?"

"My point is, we don't have to. Naruto, _we don't have to_!"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying we don't have to do anything alone. We can go tell the Hokage. Tell him everything, everything. He'll believe us, he'll have to, once we tell him. We'll prove it. You can show him the Rasengan, and I'll show him my Chidori. We can tell the Hokage. He'll know what to do. We won't have to be alone!" Sasuke said breathlessly.

"…" Naruto stared at him blankly. "…Sasuke?"

"Yeah?"

"You're a fucking genius."

"…I know."

!

**KatrinaCrystal**: Oh my freakin god I'm finally done! Well, not much to say here except that once again, I am sorry for the long wait. I told you all in the last chapter that I rarely update quickly, but still…Sorry. I'd give you a list of excuses, but that would just bore you and possibly annoy you to death. And if you're dead, you can't review, so…yeah. Oh, and before I go, I'd just like to say that I _never_ abandon my stories. Ever. I will _always _update, though usually later rather than sooner. I may or may not be replying to the reviews I get. Depends on if I have time… Ah well.

Ja ne!

KatrinaCrystal


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